It took almost three years, 31 months Amancio Ortega Reinvesting in the Spanish real estate sector. Although the news purchasing Two hotels in the Balearic Islands, – put forward by La Opinión A Coruña of the Prensa Ibérica group and Diario de Mallorca of the same group – became known on Christmas Eve and the transaction took place last summer. The operation was completed in July, when former owner Genova Property Group announced the sale of the Concepció by Nobis and Nobis Palma hotels for 35 million. The buyer’s name was not disclosed. Until now.
Although the founder of Inditex once again Purchase of a property in Spanish territory almost three years after the last oneIt is a small operation. The $35 million he paid to two organizations is far from the investments he normally makes. The last real estate asset in Spain was purchased in December 2020. This was also a hotel called Senator Playaballena, located in the town of Rota in Cadiz. Paid 25 million Again a smaller number.
25 acquisitions in three years
Since then, it has made 25 acquisitions: 21 of them were in the triple digits (over 100 million). For example, the $500 million he paid for a skyscraper consisting of luxury apartments in Manhattan (New York) draws attention. Also above 500 are the iconic Royal Bank Plaza office skyscraper in Toronto (Canada), which it bought in January last year for 843, or seven major logistics centers in six different US states, which it bought in July of the same year. Pay 900 million.
Both the Senator Playaballena hotel in Cádiz and two recent additions to the Spanish real estate portfolio are small moves. For example, he bought the Picasso Tower in Madrid in 2011 and the Cepsa Tower in 2016 for 400 and 490 million respectively; This was a far cry from the $25 million and $35 million he paid for two hotels in Cádiz and Mallorca.
In these three years, Most of its investments were outside Spain.. Five of the 25 operations took place on national territory and five were in the renewable energy sector.
The company, which purchased 5% of Red Eléctrica for $456 million in July 2021 and 49% of the wind complex in Zaragoza from Repsol for $245 million in November, made two more investments in the field of renewable energy in 2022. Also in July, it bought 5% of Enagás Renovable for $3.5 million and 49% of Repsol’s Kappa photovoltaic complex in Ciudad Real for $27 million. Its fifth and final acquisition in the renewable sector on Spanish territory since the end of 2020 took place last November. It purchased 49% of Repsol’s renewable assets spread across Spain for $363 million. The biggest investment of this year. 3,118 million dollars were spent in 22 operations carried out in 2022 and 2023. Only 13% is located on national territory and 68% is in the United States.
Why not invest more?
The answer to the question of why Amancio Ortega did not invest more in the Spanish real estate sector was given by Roberto Cibeira, the investment arm of Pontegadea, the largest shareholder of Inditex at the beginning of the year. In one of the few public demonstrations he described this strategy: High prices of Spanish real estate and the presence of large competitors (real estate and funds) in the national market. Despite everything, he admitted that they would be careful in case of price cuts, because the Spanish real estate sector continues to attract their attention. “We haven’t done a major operation for years. [en España], although we have also made smaller ones. If there is a price adjustment, we will have to see how much and in what period it will happen,” Cibeira assured. “We always look at things in Spain. If we find something that meets our criteria, we will invest,” said the Pontegadea CEO.
Amancio Ortega’s real estate portfolio began to take shape in 2002. At first in Spain and then abroad. Its first acquisition under the Pontegadea umbrella (created in June 2001, 15 days after Inditex went public) was in February 2002, when it confirmed the purchase of four hotels in the NH chain. He paid 15.2 billion old pesetas (91.4 million euros).